The WYD office in Cologne has been awarded the European Union’s prestigious EMAS Award for 2005. The prize was awarded for the innovative and successful utilization of the system of environment management during World Youth Day. WYD environmental manager, Thomas Here, received the prize at a ceremony in Villach, in Austria, in recent days. The motivation of the European Commission reads: “For your member state, the experts considered that your organization was the most innovative in demonstrating the advantages of the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) to the public, to the authorities and the most important factor of all to your personnel”. The prize consists of a sculpture made of recycled materials and was presented to Thomas Here by the representative of the General Directorate for the Environment of the European Commission, Herbert Aichinger. And to support the long-term spiritual effects of the German WYD, the secretariat of the Bishops’ Conference has published a booklet: 74 pages of suggestions for the follow-up to the event, describing fundamental aims, ideas and stimuli for subsequent meetings in following up and assessing the results of the meeting in Cologne. A section containing prayers and texts ends the brochure, which derives its title from the passage in Matthew 2:12 and is subtitled “A WYD that has effects beyond its duration”. The document can be obtained from the secretariat of the German Bishops’ Conference.
